A letter in the Wall Street Journal today makes a good point:
In response to Lauren Winner’s Houses of Worship article “Swine Flu Spells the End of the Common Cup” (Oct. 9): If we as Christian believers hold to the truth that the blood of Christ takes away sin (Matthew 26:28), surely it will also cover a few germs in a common cup.
Given the boundlessness of God’s power and his willingness to use it in response to prayer, why should anyone worry about the swine flu, or even about diabetes?
On the other hand, both hand sanitizers and communion wine contain alcohol.
(god helps those who help themselves. those denominations which use grape juice instead of wine are on their own).
The case where the Wisconsin couple allowed their daughter to die of untreated diabetes was appalling. The child lost the ability to walk and talk…and still they refused to take her to a doctor. How you could be so monstrously callous as to watch your own child suffer and die escapes me.
Jesus sanitized himself with alcohol; he drank wine a lot. The New Testament states that Jesus was a drunkard (Matthew 11: 19).
(Matthew 11: 19) … the Son of man came eating and drinking,
and they say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and sinner!’
Jesus’ Father was also a drunkard: The Old Testament witnesses that God ordered Moses to let his people offer lot of strong wine [distilled wine?] to Him every morning and every evening(Numbers 28: 1-8).
(Numbers 28: 1) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
(28: 2) Command the children of Israel, and say unto
them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made
by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to
offer unto me in their due season.
…………
(28: 7) And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth
part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt
thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for
a drink offering (every morning).
(28: 8) And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as
the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering
thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a
sweet savour unto the Lord.
Hin is a Hebrew unit of liquid measure, containing a little more than one gallon (The World Book Dictionary, 1979 ed). Strong wine of a fourth part of an hin is about 950 cc. 950 cc of strong wine every morning and every evening was not a small amount. It is impressive that God recommended his people to buy wine or strong drink as they like and enjoy it (Deuteronomy 14: 26).
(Deuteronomy 14: 26) And thou shalt bestow that money
for whatever they soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for
sheep, or for wine or strong drink, or for whatever thy
soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord
thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.
There is no question about that Jesus and his Father were pro-alcohol. Modern Christians use their God to cure alcoholics. I wonder how that works.
Many Eastern Asian women use Buddha to cure their alcoholic husbands. Such remedy works somehow. But the problem is that alcohol demons return again and again. So they keep praying to Buddha. It is wise for Buddha that he does not cure alcoholics completely. The power or tactics of Jesus is similar to that of Buddha. Jesus noted that demons (or devil) might return (Matthew 12: 43-45). Yeah, demons return again and again. This is the secret and longevity of exorcism.
By the way, God did not like to have sick people near him. According to the Old Testament, God did not like to have the sick or handicapped around him.
(Numbers 5:1) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
(5:2) Command the children of Israel, that they put out
of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an
issue [hemophiliac], and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
(5:3) Both male and female shall ye put out, without the
camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps,
in the midst whereof I dwell.
(Leviticus 21:16) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
(21:17) Speak unto Aaron saying, Whosoever he be of thy
seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him
not approach to offer the bread of his God.
(21:18) For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he
shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath
a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
(21:19) Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
(2:20) Or crookback, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in
his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
In Jesus time, God changed his mind and helped Jesus cure many sick or andicapped people. An age-old question: Why do handicapped people come into being? God confessed to Moses that it was he who made the dumb or the deaf or the blind (Exodus 4:11).
(Exodus 4:11) and the Lord said unto him [Moses], Who
hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf,
or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord?
@Susan
I used to hear this kind of story: When children (of believers) die young, Christians say God loved them so much that He took them to heaven lest their pain be prolonged in this world of sin and agony. (It is the same with the case of adult patients.) But when children of non-believers die, the interpretations differ.
I also heard from my friend (When I was in South Korea) the story that a worker lost his right arm during his work in his factory and his Christian friends and pastor consoled him saying that God needed his skilled arm in heaven ( so He toot it). (So it was an honorable event, they meant.)
Believers know every intention or work of God, perhaps better than God.
@brian
Then you have to wonder what the point of petitionary prayer is, don’t you?
@Susan
I do wonder.
The entire portion of religion is already a wonder and miracle.
Regardless of whether God answers their prayers or not, believers never cease to love, thank, praise, advocate, and understand him. So God needs not answer their prayers.
I think the easiest job in the world is God’s job. By just doing nothing he earns all the honor and praise from believers. I sometimes wonder who is wiser, man or chimpanzee. At least chimps do not do so foolish things believers do. Chimps do not destroy the environment, either.